Our boys at Karasuno High School Volleyball team face the Nekoma High School team. Needless to say, in this game, as in them all, it’s either win or go home. Despite never playing each other officially in matches, both teams are well acquainted with each other strengths and weaknesses thanks to summer exhibition matches. Already rivalries have been born, and old ones have been re-wakened. That is how we enter, along with the teams, into the third round of the spring nationals…for some, the cost is waiting another year to move forward. For others, it could be their final game.
Welcome to The Dumpster Battle: The Crows vs The Cats!
Everything I know about volleyball revolves around the G.O.A.T. Gabrielle Reece, but I have always enjoyed sports anime, so when I was introduced to Haikuu!! in December of 2020, I was intrigued and slowly grew into an obsession with these kids. Rivalries, jealousies, and insecurity permeated the series where the vehicle for these anxieties was volleyball. Yes, volleyball.
Only in anime could I see some of my only insecurities reflected at me so expertly. (yes, other media have done it as well, but, for me, it’s consistently been done in anime)
As we start the dumpster battle our two main protagonists take center stage Shoyo Hinata the heart and soul of Karasuno and Kenma Kozume, a volleyball prodigy at Nekoma immediately take to each other immediately sensing a connection. Granted, it’s mostly Shoyo but while Kenma could be described as whelmed, not over or under merely whelmed at their serendipitous meeting we see a foreshadowing of the intensity in the story to come. Shoyo sees a fierce opponent in Kenma whose unengaged demeanor does not belie. This chemistry fuels the drama of the movie. The arc of both characters is both stunning and revelatory. Every volley, formation, and play is a moment in time that reveals a truth about all involved. The initial introduction of Shoya and Kenma foreshadows the intensity of the game itself.
To avoid spoilers, I will stop there. ‘The Dumpster Battle’ continues that long tradition that we love in sports anime, to strive to be the best in the world, overcoming a seemingly impossible adversary and striving past personal tragedy. This movie shines incredibly well. From the characters to the volleyball game itself. The concern that might come is how can the game be interesting. Like the series, game mirrors the internal struggles of the players. That juxtaposition of volleyball and exposition immediately invests in the teams and the story that develops before, during, and because of the game.
The hardest part of the series is deciding who you want to win, it’s a compelling story and both pull on your heart and you wish there could be no losers. But this is volleyball and like Highlander there can be only one.
RIOTUS 